ALCOHOL PROHIBITION DIDN'T WORK EITHER

While state and federal so-called leaders stand united supporting the
irrational war on drugs, history stands with those who, far from endorsing
them, maintain that legalization, or at least decriminalization, is in
order. Cut to the early 1900s. Instead of supporting freedom and seeking to
educate citizens about the consequences of consuming alcohol,
prohibitionists declared all alcoholic beverages destructive and used
government force to outlaw them. Otherwise law-abiding citizens who
disagreed but lacked political clout simply consumed privately.

Unwilling to risk incarceration, the more civilized free market yielded to
the black market which became controlled by those ultimately willing to
kill for money. Further, the lack of standards cheated consumers on content
and killed them with impurities while the poor and powerless received jail
time and innocent lives were lost in shootouts. Sound familiar? Today, even
after Prohibition's demise, alcohol continues to take its toll.

Social stigma, education, and rehabilitation have dampened some of its
destructiveness. What has been gained, though, is an end to incarceration
for a victimless transaction, an end to gangland violence, and, most
importantly, freedom to choose and the responsibility that goes with it.
Ultimately, the same would be true for legalized drugs.

Steve Adams

Colorado Springs